If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Wishing for the Sun -- A Story of Piemonte

My French AAR is still ongoing, but I have just about played through that game. So I will finish it; it is now just a matter of consistent updates. I didn't plan to start another AAR before that one finished, but I decided to start one for the contest.

After France, I wanted to play something a little smaller, but I didn't really want to jump into the deep end of the uncivilized world. I decided on Sardina-Piedmont for a couple of reasons: (1) a goal of uniting Italy will be interesting and (2) I love Piemonte. I've spent many holidays there and I could spend many more.

So, onward. This is with version 1.1 (obviously) with the minimum wage tweak. Plus the Map Improvement Package for the contest. It will be mostly in the style of a game-play AAR, and I'm going to try to write it as I play, so I'll have no foreknowledge of what happens.

1836 -- The Beginning

The very first step is to provide direction to my researchers. Army Technology is tempting, but the Piemontese have no knowledge of railroads, so that really is the obvious first choice.

Our single National Focus point is set to attract clergy in Turin (for the literacy) and the initial budget is set.

At this point, we need to take stock of our neighbors. Is there some territory we can grab before the alliance are all formed? Directly to our north is Switzerland. Grabbing Eastern Switzerland is an option, but their mountainous terrain makes them less than palatable. Parma is directly to our east, but she is already in the sphere of the Austrians. No thanks. What about Modena? A single province nation, so the infamy cost is big -- 20 right off the bat. But one of those provinces contains iron.

So yes, that's it. War is declared, and February 1836 opens with the two armies squaring off on the plains of Modena.

We "won" that battle by forcing the retreat, even though we suffered a greater loss in casualties. But with no where to retreat to, the army of Modena was dispersed. Now it was just a matter of waiting out the sieges.

Notice the budget number in the shot above. Piemonte started the war with a positive budget and a decent reserve, but as a small power, war is very expensive.

Once the sieges were over in early June and Modena agreed to annexation, Piemonte had incurred 1207£ in debt.

But the budget crisis wasn't over yet. Even though the war was over, it took until the end of the year until the budget was positive again. Meanwhile, Piemonte was hemorrhaging citizens.

Correspondingly, when the Upper House of Parliament was assembled in January, the reactionaries had the largest gains.

Wooo, nice to see your entry here, mjj55409! Looks like Piemonte's gonna crash through the opposition like tissue paper! I've heard it's ultra-beautiful myself... Yet another place to check out one day. Too bad it's impossible to hop trains overseas. xD Looks like Piemonte did great - eating up Modena looks profitable, and I think you did an excellent job of getting through the budget crisis... But we'll be keeping an eye on those reactionaries.

Chatting with the friendly ghosts of Voltairine, Haywood, Goldman, Makhno, and Berkman.

1837 - 1840 -- Northern Expansion

By the end of 1837, the budget was again solidly in the black. This was helped in large part by the discovery of gold in Sassari. The influx immediately accounted for 1/3 of the monies coming into the treasury on a daily basis.

The government immediately commissioned two artillery divisions to be recruited and outfitted, adding the first big guns to the Piemontese army.

In 1838, Sardinia-Piemonte had a good base of artisans, and capitalists had opened a Canned Food factory. With a solid budget now in place, the government also commissioned the building of a cement factory in Turin.

In 1839, war between Prussia and Austria drew in most of the secondary powers on one side or the other. Piedmonte stayed neutral, having just signed a treaty with Paris, placing itself inside the French SOI.

In early February, 1839, a Piemontese citizen was arrested by the Swiss in the commune Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses on charges of spying.

The more jingoistic members of parliament seized on this incident as a means to declare war on Switzerland and seize the provinces of Eastern Switzerland. The Swiss were not aligned with any of the Great Powers at the time, so a regional dispute between Switzerland and Sardinia-Piemonte would probably not draw a great deal of interest. Debate raged for a couple of weeks with the citizens being inflamed by the daily papers. Then on 19 February 1839 war was declared.

The reserves were mobilized and the Piemontese army took up positions in Annecy and Novara, hoping to draw the Swiss out of the mountains. The ploy worked, and on 5 March 1839 12000 Swiss forces met a Piemontese army of 19000 in the Battle of Novara.

The fighting lasted for 3 weeks, with fresh forces joining the battle on each side, ending in a brutal defeat for the Swiss. The Swiss in this one battle, lost 57% of its effectives.

After its victory in the Battle of Novara, the Piemontese army pushed into Switzerland. In July and again in August, there were pitched battles outside of Geneva. In both case, the Swiss were defeated.

By the end of August the Piemontese were in control of Geneva. Though the Swiss launched one last desperate attempt to free the province in September.

On 30 November 1839, the tattered remnants of the Swiss army surrendered to the Piemontese in Sitten.

But it took until March 1840 for the Swiss government to admit defeat, conceding Eastern Switzerland to Sardinia-Piemonte.

95

Good to see you suceeding in aquirering new lands. I am not sure i would have taken the swiss lands, they are a rebellious bunch
The Goldmine was truly a lucky stroke for you, that should make balancing alot easier =)

Good start! When I played as S-P I also went for Modena right off the bat, but I never went for East Switzerland. 20 infamy might sound like a lot, but S-P doesn't need to do much more conquering (without a casus belli, as in the Swiss case) for the next one or two decades (surrounded, as it is, by states in the SOI's of France or Austria), so that infamy will be wiped clean. I got that goldmine in Sardinia too, so it must be programmed to appear there. It does help a lot with the finances.

Hopefully the Svizzeri'll assimilate quickly back into the country that spawned their mother tongue! If not, you'll just have to appease their homesickness for the Alps by taking Western Switzerland as well... Although for now, it seems wise to play it safe and enjoy a time of growth and prosperity.

Chatting with the friendly ghosts of Voltairine, Haywood, Goldman, Makhno, and Berkman.

1840 -- Industrial Awakening

In 1840, after the war with the Swiss, the House of Savoy embarked on an ambitious planning of building. Formulated were plans for a centralized rail service, running from Turino to Alexandria, north to Lucerne, with plans to extend the line from the port of Genoa to the coal mines of Annency.

With the excitement of the Industrial Revolution building throughout Europe, the intention was to build the Kingdom of Sardinia into an industrial power. This undoubtedly will take a while, but all great journeys start with a first step.

The crown also commissioned the building of a two additional factories, a liquor distillery in Sardegna and a glass factory in East Switzerland. In addition, members of the newly burgeoning capitalist class were trying to drum up support for a clothing factory in Turino.

The plan was indeed was ambitious and would take some time to take hold. Records from the end of 1846 show that Sardinia-Piemonte was still largely an agrarian economy with the new factories mostly struggling.

*****

The period from 1840 - 1845 was also marked by liberal stirrings, and a rather rocky assimilation process for the newly acquired peoples of East Switzerland.

All of this led to June 1845 when the absolute monarchy of the House of Savoy was successfully challenged and a limited constitutionalism was implemented.

The first elections were called, and in December 1845, the first ruling party was in place in Turino.

1843 -- Africa!

The burgeoning industrialization of the Sardinia-Piemonte kingdom highlighted some problems. A rather large one was a scarcity of resources. A lot of the building projects were stalled just because the material goods needed for construction could not be obtained. Clearly Sardinia-Piemonte needed to expand its markets.

This, of course, was one of the primary driving factors for all of the European colonial powers. The Savoies saw this, they saw France, Spain, and the Netherlands dividing North Africa. Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, one of the leading figures in the Sardinia government, saw this the most clearly. He also understood that there was no way that Sardinia could be expected to compete with France for Mediterranean North Africa.

Conte di Cavour as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia

So with French blessing, Cavour looked further east. The Eastern Mediterranean was mostly the domain of the Ottomans. And though the Turks were weakening, Cavour didn't feel that a direct challenge of their power was wise. So Cavour looked to Egypt, particularly the Damyat (Damietta) region, control of which would give the Sardinians not only a port in the Eastern Mediterranean, but also a route to the Gulf of Suez, the Red Sea, and a pathway to Asia.

Though at this point Egypt was also a growing power. They had successfully fought a war with the Ottomans, securing a portion of the Ottoman Empire for Egypt. In August 1843, Sardinia was presented with an opportunity. Egypt declared war on Ethiopia. With the Egyptian army distracted in the South, Sardinia would strike at the North.

On 27 October 1843, war was declared.

The only resistance the Sardinian army faced was from Egyptian rebel forces, as the entirety of the Egyptian army was in Ethiopia.

On 2 April 1844, Egypt extracted peace from Ethiopia. They were now free to face the Sardinian forces.

The Battle of Tanta occurred in early July 1844.

Followed by a battle for Cairo in late July.

The combination of Sardinian cavalry and the new muzzle-loaded rifles of the infantry proved insurmountable. Both battles were major losses for the Egyptians, with the Egyptian army completely surrendering in Cairo.

By December, Sardinian forces were in control of the capital in Cairo, and the Egyptians conceded defeat.

The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmonte had secured for herself a nice piece of land in Northern Africa.

Egypt will bog you down if you try to annex it. I say, go for Lombardy when the Austrians are fighting Prussia! Just don't call the French (you should be in their SOI by now), since they may have their own designs as war leaders.

95

Well done, great update, i am sure Egypt wont give you a break as soon as the truce is over to get back their piece of land.
Be on the watch for weakness in Austria and the italian states, you might be able to profit there

Well done, great update, i am sure Egypt wont give you a break as soon as the truce is over to get back their piece of land.
Be on the watch for weakness in Austria and the italian states, you might be able to profit there

With luck, Egypt will have enough to worry about with Sicily declaring war every 5 years.

And you all were a very big help. I wasn't paying enough attention to conditions in Austria. That changes with the next update.